|
Maybe Mark(RLBS) should invest in a pot. Good incentive for a lifestyle change, and affordable now he has given up cigs.
|
|
He would have to wash it first and that happens hmmm let me see The next ice age in hell it seems.
|
Yeah right. I don't think I have ever bought any car wax, car polish or even car soap in my life - never mind the chances of spenidn gmore than a quid.
I have, on very rare occasions, washed a car and there's nothing wrong with washing up liquid.
Teh local car wash is £2. It doesn't use any wax, it doesn't dry the car, and I'm not even sure it uses soap - but it gets the mud off.
|
there's nothing wrong with washing up liquid>>
There is - salt.
Re the £5,820 pot of wax. Perhaps one way to look at it is that the second pot's refill will cost the equivalent of £2,910, the third £1,455 and so on...:-)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
|
wonder if they would give me a free sample...cheers...keo
|
|
|
>> there's nothing wrong with washing up liquid>> There is - salt.
There is a small amount of salt in washing up liquid, but as the car gets a thorough rinse after using it can't see the problem. I've used it on cars, bikes, and cycles for years and never had a problem.
|
>>and never had a problem.>>
www.eforecourt.com/carcare.htm
www.americredit.com/Customers/Tools/Learn2WashCar....m
www.smartmotorist.com/det/det.htm
All give exactly the same advice - don't use washing up liquid...:-)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
|
Like Tom Shaw I also use washing up liquid with a bucket and sponge and dry with a real leather. I don't even rinse the car and give the bodywork a polish once or twice a year. The paintwork on my fifteen year old 205GTi, that I have owned from new, is still immaculate.
|
Ref Salt in washing up liquid.
What on earth can a bit of salt do on top of my lacquered paintwork? I can understand its effect on bare metal, but on top of paintwork? My car's streaked with salt after a week's winter driving up the M3 and the paintwork doesn't suffer at all; it's still looking good after 6 years. (Though the underside of the car is probably a different story).
V
|
The local car wash is £2
... which is fine for company cars and you get for free a surface texture of scratch marks ;o)
Oz (as was)
|
"there's nothing wrong with washing up liquid"
Is it just me or do others find it strange that people are prepared to spend thousands on a car but begrudge spending £5 on some Zip wax which would last a year even if you washed the car every week? Washing up liquid is not designed for washing cars and does not help protect the paint as car wash stuff does and it takes more rinsing off if you don't want streaks. And taken to its logical conclusion, why washing up liquid and not other things - shower gel? Bold automatic? Imperial Leather? toothpaste? glow white? What do you use in your windscreen washer bottle? Fairy Liquid again? And since it probably prevents freezing, how about putting some in the radiator? What about oil? Although the manufacturers recommend fully synthetic I'm sure topping up with a drop of that old Castrolite that's been sitting in the back of the garage for 20 years won't do much harm. And I bet the Fairy Liquid users are also the people who won't go near supermarket petrol because it doesn't have those magical (or is it mythical?) additives.
|
I've used washing up liquid for decades, Phil. If at any point it had damaged paintwork, chrome or plastic then I would have stopped using it. It hasn't, so I still use it. That's a lot different to using the wrong oil or fuel which may be causing damage that is not apparrent till it is too late.
And yes, the washer bottle also gets a shot of Fairy Liquid. Does the job just as well as those expensive evil smelling products you pay for (Fairy Liquid is free if SWMBO is not looking), again anyprobs and I would use something else, but there haven't been.
|
I have in the past used shower gel in the water to clean a car, and have put washing up liquid in the washer bottle. both worked very well thank you.
Oh yes I have also topped up a car with old "castrolite" and it did no harm
And guess what I do use supermarket diesel.
ANd jolly fine stuff it is too
|
shower gel?
Done that. Works fine, but you need quite a lot of it.
>>Bold automatic?
Gritty, gums up the windscreen washer jets. Not recommended. Tends to leave froth all over the roof of the car as well.
>>Imperial Leather?
Can't get it in the washer bottle. Have used it to get baked on flies off the windscreen. Works really well but a bit of a palaver to rinse it off.
>toothpaste?
Now *that* would be silly. On the timing case of an old Matchless on the other hand.....
you use in your windscreen washer bottle?
Usually water since I'm never anywhere sensible when I fill it. However, if its ever to be anything, it is washing up liquid.
since it probably prevents freezing, how about putting some in the radiator?
Funnily enough I once did that by mistake. I'd put washing up liquid in the watering can I was filling the washer bottle with and decide to top up the expansion bottle as well. It frothed. A lot. For a long time. Embarassing.
>>What about oil?
Dunno, it hasn't used up all the first lot yet.
>>And I bet the Fairy Liquid users are also the people who won't go near supermarket petrol
Actually my car gets whatever comes from the cheapest pump closest to me when the fuel lights been on for about 30 miles and I'm starting to get twitchy.
That Sainsbury City Diesel stuff at 80.9 per litre is pretty frequent since the supermarket is between my office and the motorway.
>>because it doesn't have those magical (or is it mythical?) additives.
Of course it doesn't. They used them all up in the magic polishy waxy snake oil that everybody seems to use on their car - in between 300 mile oil changes.
|
|
That Toyata - that's you, isn't it?
|
|
No, the guy driving the Toyota has dark hair.....
|
Tom, Mark, RF,
OK, I take your points - and I don't think it's any big deal or problem to use Fairy Liquid, but it just strikes me as out of character for some contributors who are so meticulous about other matters, and give detailed, knowlegeable (and valuable)advice on many other matters to be so "cavalier" about car washing stuff! Not what I expected of you!!I'm not fanatical about cleaning my car (about once a month I guess) though I do like to give it a good "Autoglyming" a couple of times a year.
In future I am going to use household products more:-
Smokers' toothpowder for removing scratches on paintwork,
Cherry Blossom for brightening tyres,
Johnson's floor wax for extra shiny paintwork,
Mr Muscle Oven cleaner for those tar spots,
Kitchen knife as a screwdriver
Bottle opener as an adjustable spanner,
Extra virgin olive oil for the door hinges and locks
Asda sunflower oil instead of diesel, and when that runs out I might just attach that camping gaz cylinder to the fuel pump.
I'm sure Mark has done all these already -----and many more!!
Course what could be done is buy plenty of Fairy Liquid, stick a new label on and flog it as advanced car shampoo at £5820 a pot - and we'd have plenty of recommendations as to it's effectiveness!
|
>>Course what could be done is buy plenty of Fairy Liquid, stick a new label on and flog it as advanced car shampoo at £5820 a pot
Isn't the whole point of this thread that someone has already done that ?
|
No, the £5820 Fairy Liquid is used to wash the car before you apply the £5820 WAX! I'll leave it to someone else to explain the difference between the car shampoo and the wax - though I realise that you don't need to know since you don't use either!!!
|
>>Kitchen knife as a screwdriver
Oh come on !! Are you saying you don't do that ? How else do you change a plug ?
|
|
I can tell you now how many times I have used a kitchen knife as a screwdriver. I only have to count the scars on my hands and fingers. Indeed I have a nice fresh pink recently healed one.
|
|
And indeed er indoors R5 black plastic bits that had gone light grey got cherry blossum shoe polish on. That worked a treat.
|
"How else do you change a plug ?"
SWMBO would not allow use of kitchen knife! - so I always use my penknife. Used to be good for adjusting spark plug/points gaps also.
|
Off to bed now - and since I used my toothpaste to clean the windscreen am going to clean teeth with Fairy Liquid - do you think Domestos would get rid of the red wine stains on my teeth?
|
Off to bed now - and since I used my toothpaste to clean the windscreen am going to clean teeth with Fairy Liquid - do you think Domestos would get rid of the red wine stains on my teeth? yes should do works for mine with tobacco my teeth are now very white and it's cheaper than steradent etc. ...cheers...keo oh remember to rinse them ...
|
You lot amaze me, the money you waste on rubbish like plugs. Used matches are just the right size for jamming the wires into those little hole things in the socket. And you don't have the bother of things breaking down when that silly little fuse thingy breaks. My matches were still holding the wires snugly even when the washing machine caught fire and burnt the kitchen down.
The magistrate even went out of his way to mention my "Mind boggling efforts at DIY". I nearly burst with pride, even the local paper headlined it.
|
Can't understand why you have a washing machine - just peg your dirty underwear to the wipers, quick squirt with the washers (and of course the Fairy liquid therein) and by the time you get to work they will be washed and dried. (and you will have a nice clean screen to boot)
|
|
Brilliant idea. The court order prohibiting me from using domestic appliances still has a year to run, and I'm beginning to smell...
|
>>Smokers' toothpowder for removing scratches on paintwork>>
Might not be as silly as it seems - it's a known (and recommended) method of removing minor scratches on audio CDs (but NOT on CD-Rs or CD-RWS) that refuse to play properly...:-)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
|
When I was just a boy, I once couldn't find any dishwashing liquid, so used some laundry detergent instead to wash the car. Hmm, one very streaky result. Never did that again. I don't use diswashing liquid now either, as it either froths up too much or not enough. Toothpaste is quite good at getting off the oily film that builds up on windscreens. I seem to have to use it on the bathroom mirror every time I stay in a hotel, and actually want to see which part of my face I'm shaving.
|
|
|
|
